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Written by a former National Geographic employee who also proudly served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Interview: Horreyah on the Arab Springs

Geographic Travels interviewed documentarian Victor S. who is creating a documentary film about his travels in the Arab world during and after Arab Spring-events. The film, Horreyah, which means "freedom" in Arabic follows Victor during his time in the region. Victor is currently raising money on Kickstarter to help him finance the film's production.

We find his information on the independent-mindedness of each protest surprising, the Muslim
Brotherhood slow motion plan of conquest disturbing, and the personal story about the FSA adventurous.

GT: What inspired you to do a documentary on the Arab Spring?

I had worked as a contractor in the region during the relatively early
stages of OIF and became interested in the middle east for several
reasons. The history of the area, the passionate nature of its people,
and the politics all seemed fascinating to me. By the time that the
"Arab Spring" had started, I had already traveled throughout much of
North Africa and the Levant.

During my travels I spoke with literally hundreds of locals and (like
many travelers do) I listened to them gripe about their view of the
world- but later found it fascinating that they rarely mentioned the
issues that would become the impetus for the Spring.

I am also an American, and as such believe that freedom is something
that every person should have. When the first wave of popular uprisings
were shown by the US media during January/Febuary of 2011, they were
often presented (rather simplistically) as David taking on Goliath. As
small but brave groups of individuals fighting long standing
Dictatorships. This touched me and I couldn't help but draw some
comparisons to American history.

I also noticed that major media reporting on the subject usually
entailed interviewing some former Ambassador under the Reagan
administration or some DC based analyst. These were "grass roots"
uprisings after all, and I thought the most important people to speak
with were those on the ground level.

That's why I decided to do a documentary on the subject.

GT: The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and spread throughout the region. Why do feel people were so interconnected in their urge to rise up?

For this film we traveled from the "birthplace of the Arab Spring" (the
small and desolate Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid)- to the battlefields
of western Syria. I met with revolutionaries, freedom fighters, and
ordinary people. I asked almost every single one this same question- and
they all downplayed the importance of this "interconnection".

The Tunisians I spoke with all seemed proud that their country was the
new birthplace of freedom for the region, but the extent of this seemed
lost on most of them. I met with Bouzazi's family who still seemed to be
making sense of their own individual change of circumstances and did
not appear overly concerned with the fate of the rest of the world.

Every different revolutionary group I met with in Cairo and Alexandria
all seemed eager to downplay many of the events in Tunisia. Most of them
told me that THEIR revolution would have started regardless of what was
playing out in other countries. I formed the opinion that this may be
tied to a very "Egypt centric" school of thought. That is to say that
many Egyptians that I met believed that their country was (in most ways)
the epicenter of activity for the region at all times. With that frame
of mind, its only natural that one would find their personal struggle to
be the most defining.

The Syrians were/are still struggling to make sense of the escalating
conflict in their own country to put much thought in others. I did speak
candidly with some FSA members who acknowledged being inspired by what
took place in Libya, but many of them were quick to add that they felt
the media was embellishing the "success" there.

GT: What are some interesting trends you have seen?

The slow indoctrination approach taken by the "Freedom and Justice Party" in Egypt.

Unlike their Salifi counterparts, members of the "Muslim Brotherhood"
have been politically astute enough to not demand a full out Islamic
state immediately. I did realize after speaking to several different
party members that they have taken a slower and more pragmatic approach
with the same goal in mind.

According to them, the plan is to through a period of what they see as
"purification" of the Egyptian people from western influence. They know
that this will probably take 10-20 years and they are willing to
approach it systematically. The first place to start is the schools-
changing books and course curriculums. From there they will work on
changing the culture of social institutions and the Army.

It was amazing to me how much everybody seemed to be on the same page
about this. It didn't matter what member I spoke with or where, they all
sounded like they were reading from the same play book.

One thing they have gained from over 80 years of political experience-
is patience. They are going to great lengths to appear moderate to the
Egyptian people, but are apparently sharing different information
internally.

GT: Many in the West are concerned about Christians and other minorities.
What impacts of the Arab Spring have you seen on these communities?

Again, I turn to Egypt. EVERY Christian church that I visited while in
Cairo had to be guarded by police or Military. These weren't just large
Cathedrals, but even smaller Catholic Churches in residential areas. It
was also difficult to get Christians to speak on Camera about how they
viewed the Arab Spring.

For this documentary we also went to the DC based "United States
commission on International Religious Freedom" and interviewed the
Deputy Director of Policy- Dr. Dwight N. Bashir. He just reinforced what
we had already seen- that Christians will most likely see a rise in
persecution in Egypt over all other countries effected by the spring.
This is something that I believe our Government should be very proactive
in addressing.

GT: Do you have a interesting/fun "war story/crazy experience" to share?

Getting in to Syria and to an FSA camp.

There are foreign based organizations that have been (operating as non
profits) excepting money from wealthy Syrians abroad which they in turn
use to help fund humanitarian activities inside of Syria.

A journalist friend of mine put me in touch with a trusted point of
contact inside of one of these organizations. This person informed me
that a cigarette smuggler they knew took regular trips across the border
to an FSA camp. If I paid a small fee, I could go with him and he would
personally introduce me to the "Colonel". I agreed and invited two
Italian journalists who I had met a week prior.

A date/time was set to meet at an agreed upon location 10km from the
Syrian Border. The day came- and my two Italian friends suddenly backed
out and advised me to do the same. Having quite a bit of experience
ignoring perfectly good advice- I felt that this time should be no
different and decided to proceed anyway.

My new best friend (the cigarette smuggler) simply placed me comfortably
in the trunk of a late model Nissan 4 door car. Driving for what felt
like hours, my "guide" proceeded to take (what felt like) dirt roads and
gravel paths. We finally arrived at a large orchard at the base of a
small mountain, where I was released from my comfortable nook. Here we
were met by a small man in his early thirties, who was brandishing an AK
47 and was apparently the first FSA member that I would meet.

The adventure continued on foot up the mountain and down a narrow
ravine, only to climb small small rock faces on the next mountain. We
finally reached the outskirts of"camp" around mid day.

Having been in the US military myself, I was shocked at how poorly
defended and designed this camp was. It was simply a ring of foxholes on
the top of the mountain covering an area about as large as a football
field. There were approx. 40-50 men of varying ages, most busy setting
up (Coleman brand) multi colored sleeping tents. They were armed- but
poorly. About half had AK-47's while the other half at a mixture of
shotguns and hunting rifles.

I was taken to the "Colonel" and proceeded to set up for an interview
when- BOOM! A large explosion was heard coming from the base of the
mountain along where we had just walked. Myself and the small group of
fighters around me all dropped to the ground. BOOM- a second one. Then
they jumped up at once, starting to shout wildly and their was a brief
moment of confusion. BOOM- a third one. After about thirty seconds of
debate, the group apparently agreed it was mortars being dropped on the
trail we just took.

It was later deduced that we must have been spotted. The Mortar team who
responded just didn't eat their Wheaties that morning and were just a
few minutes late putting rounds down range.

This is the moment that it suddenly dawned on me that I could actually
get stuck there. My mind began racing beyond that to what would happen
if the camp was attacked and the "impervious" defenses did not hold.
What would Assads forces do with a white American at an FSA camp?

The tone suddenly changed from what felt like an "Indiana Jones adventure" to "lets get this over with and get out of here".

We completed the interview with no more "problems" and simply took a
different trail to a small village where a car was waiting. This time
the walk was much longer.